Phoebe's Gift by Jerry S. Eicher

Author:Jerry S. Eicher
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780736969338
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers

TWENTY-THREE

David rose early on Wednesday morning at the Fishers’ homestead, but he lingered in the barn after breakfast. How was he to proceed with life from here? He had kissed a Lapp girl. Maybe the whole problem would be solved by a rebuff from Phoebe this morning. Things would be easier on that familiar road. Even a little hesitancy on her part would help, but she wouldn’t go back on what they had shared. When he left last evening, she had come out on the front porch to holler, “Goot night!” as he ran through the rain.

Phoebe would have stayed inside if she had regretted the precious moment they had shared that morning. His face burned with the sweet memory of her in his arms. Somehow he had managed to appear normal last evening around his family. He had retired early, exhausted from the day’s efforts, and had slept uneasily all night. And not only because of the decisions that lay ahead of him, but also because Ruth hadn’t come home from her schoolteaching job until well after the big clock in the downstairs living room struck twelve. Apparently he was the only one in the family who had noticed.

David pushed open the barn door and glanced out. Ruth had appeared at the front door with a bundle of books clutched in her arms, headed out for her day’s work at the schoolhouse. He caught up with her at the end of the driveway.

“Why are you still here?” She turned to look accusingly at him.

“What’s wrong with walking my sister part of the way to her schoolhouse?” He forced a grin.

Ruth looked away and held the bundle of books tighter to her chest. “You’ve always gone early up to Phoebe’s these past days. Have you two fallen out?”

“No.” David laughed. “She has things well under control this week. She doesn’t need me at the moment. The woman’s a marvel.”

“You don’t have to tell me that,” Ruth retorted. “She’s a Lapp, and we’re Fishers. Remember that, my darling brother.”

“Why the bitterness this morning?” David kicked a loose stone deeper into the ditch. “And why have you been coming home so late in the evenings?”

“I had a lot of papers to check the other night. Isn’t that what goot schoolteachers do?”

“And last night?”

“Maybe I had a load of work all week.”

“You went out with Ethan, didn’t you?”

“And you’re getting sweet on Phoebe,” she shot back. “Or rather, is Phoebe getting sweet on you? That’s what we’re waiting for, isn’t it?”

David kept his gaze on the road. “So what if she is? Does that mean you have a right to bend the rules to suit your own purposes? The community is giving you a fair chance, Ruth. Why are you tempting fate? If someone—”

“If someone finds out? I know. Always it’s if someone finds out. What if I want both worlds, David? What if Ethan finally has come around right when I’ve been given this…whatever you want to call it…this glorious chance? What if love is the other glorious chance I’ve been waiting for? The man loves me, David.

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